Riverbanks Zoo gorilla found dead

Kimya, one of three male gorillas at Riverbanks Zoo, has died, the zoo announced Monday.

Keepers found Kimya unresponsive in his sleeping area on their first check of the gorillas Monday morning, zoo spokesperson Lindsay Burke said.

The cause of death was unclear. Kimya’s remains are being sent to the University of Georgia for a full examination called a necropsy, Burke said.

Kimya, 16, was born at the Toledo Zoo in 1994 and came to Riverbanks with Mike and Chaka from the Philadelphia Zoo in 2004. The gorillas at Riverbanks were in the news in 2009, when one of them climbed a droopy bamboo stalk to escape the Gorilla Base Camp exhibit. The escapee chased down and batted around a zoo concessions worker, who was treated and released at a local hospital.